rhymingfrancis

Monday, January 29, 2018

We are the migrants of Millstreet though from there we do live far away
In the Town or the countryside near Clara we first looked on the lamp of day
From there our dreams lured us to elsewhere we all have our dreams of renown
And most of us a strong desire retain to grow old near or in Millstreet Town
We as the Migrants of Millstreet visit the Millstreet web site every day
The love of the old home parish until death with us will stay
Some of those featured on the web site familiar faces and some their ancestors of we knew
We thank them for our good memories of Millstreet and our good memories of Millstreet not in the few
We as the migrants of Millstreet fond memories of there does retain
And in our moments of nostalgia we visit the old Town again
Millstreet is in our d n a to say differently it would be a lie
The love of first home remains in us and will until the day we do die
We as the migrants of Millstreet retain good memories of the days of old
When in G A A parks in Duhallow and beyond we cheered on the men in green, white and gold
The good old days we do remember in our moments of nostalgic tears
Good memories do last a whole lifetime and they never age with the years
In our old memories of Millstreet time for us seems to stand still
Though the people we knew there are ageing in the Town and places near Clara Hill
And some of them no longer living and as migrants from there we do live far away
We retain fond memories of our first home though there we did not choose for to stay
Millstreet the home of our younger years where our dreams in life were sown
It is a place we feel proud of that we could never disown
We only do have the memories of the what was to retain
And often on our flights of fancy we visit Millstreet again.

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Many centuries ago when only indigenous tribes lived there Australia was a Land mostly of trees and on the parts of the Country where trees didn't grow grew scutch grass, it was a Land abundant with wild animals and birds, millions upon millions of animals such as kangaroos, possums, wallabies, koalas, wombats, echidnas, platypus etc etc and beautiful birds such as cockatoos, rosellas, whipbirds, lyrebirds, bowerbirds, kookaburras, magpies, crows, fairy wrens, honeyeaters, robins and millions of huge flightless birds cassowaries and emus,
The story that i am about to tell you concerns a sulphur crested cockatoo his name was Cocky, one very windy evening in late May Cocky did not leave with all of his friends as he usually did to return to their roosting place tall gum trees about a mile from the sea shore, he was very hungry so he decided to stay behind and eat some more seeds which he and the other cockatoos had been eating, it was nightfall as he flew towards the gum trees where his friends were, the power of the wind increased and Cocky felt himself blown out to sea panic seized his little heart and he squawked loudly for his friends to help him but of course his friends did not hear him as they were too far away, he struggled desperately for to fly against the wind but of course the wind blew too strong and exhausted he had to cease trying to fly against the wind and allow the gale to carry him further and further out to sea by dawn he felt very tired and he was miles from anywhere about mid morning the wind had subsided considerably and Cocky thought he saw what was land and he flew towards it but as he drew closer he found it was not land but a boat and Cocky had never before had seen a boat,
He flew above the boat and looked down into it in the boat were people and Cocky did not trust people and although he was very tired he dared not land on the boat as he feared the people might kill him and though he felt exhausted he followed the boat all day until dark and then under the cover of darkness he flew into the boat unnoticed, he hid in the corner of the boat behind boxes and with his head tucked beneath his wing slept soundly until he was startled from his sleep by enveloping human hands, he squawked loudly and tried to struggle free, he even bit into the man's hands with his powerful beak but it was to no avail as the man was too strong and he could not struggle free, the man put Cocky in a box and gave him pieces of raw meat to eat which Cocky did not like but nevertheless eat as he was famished with the hunger,
He spent days in the box on a diet of scraps of meat and water, from listening to the men talking amongst each other Cocky learned to speak a few words like hello and good day and one morning Cocky said hello to the man who had come to feed him and the man who had never before heard a bird talking was taken aback and he called out to all of his shipmates who immediately gathered around Cocky's prison a medium sized timber box with small timber door and four small holes which allowed air and light in but were too small for a bird the size of Cocky to escape through,
Cocky said hello and good day to all of the men who could only watch on and listen in amazement the men immediately summoned their captain and leader who on hearing the bird talking came to the conclusion that they must have imprisoned some sort of a feathered god and the captain who was of a very suspicious nature feared that the keeping of such a creature in captivity could bring ill luck on himself and his men and his boat gave orders for the immediate release of Cocky who on being released squawked loudly and shouted hello and good day as he flew away,
It felt strange for Cocky to again experience the freedom of the sky after having spent what seemed such a long term in captivity he flew westwards and had been flying for up to three hours when he saw in the distance what appeared to him to be land this time he hoped that he was right for if not and it turned out to be another boat he would prefer to die at sea than take the risk of again being taken captive,
As he flew nearer he could see that it was cliffs he was approaching and he gave a sigh of relief as he neared the cliffs he thought he was again back home in Australia but Cocky was wrong as he flew over the cliffs and headed inland he realized that he was not back home in Australia but in some foreign Country, there was less trees than there had been in Australia and the trees looked completely different no gum trees but oak, beech, birch, hawthorn, ash etc etc
trees he had never seen before and the grass seemed much greener than in Australia and there were cattle and sheep and horses creatures he had never seen before,
He perched on a beech tree for to rest awhile a flock of strange birds perched on an oak tree about twenty meters away
They were starlings and they took exception to the stranger in their midst they mobbed Cocky but he was able to fight them off there was plenty food for him to eat here and cocky enjoyed what was the first natural meal he had in what seemed ages to him.
He flew further inland for at least another two hours and as it was now almost dark Cocky perched on a poplar tree in a wooded area where he rested for the night and as he slept with his head tucked beneath his wing he had a beautiful dream he dreamed that he was back again in Australia with his lovely wife Cresty and their son Sulphur and their pretty daughter Katoo,
He was awakened by the sound of birdsong blackbirds and thrushes singing on trees nearby it was daybreak and Cocky was far from home in fact over twelve thousand miles, he was in Wales at the other side of the World, Cocky knew by the strange birds that lived in this strange Country that he must be a long way from home another difference was there seemed to be more human beings living here, he could see up to seven people walking down the valley within fifty meters of the tree he was on, already he had learned the hard lesson to stay clear of the human kind,
though this seemed a nice area for Cocky to stay in with trees and open Country as well so he decided to settle here for awhile at least nevertheless he felt very lonely as he pined for his family and his friends back home and beside the local birds did not like him as to them he was a stranger and they treated him as such and they surely would have killed him had he been smaller but they feared his powerful beak and claws and though they taunted and threatened him that was as far as they went,
He had been about a week in this valley when one morning a medium sized blackish gray bird that resembled a small crow flew up and perched on the same branch as he was on, Cocky braced himself for fight as he thought that this bird had come to challenge him but when he realized that this bird was of no threat to him he relaxed and in fact he found this bird to be very friendly and though she spoke in an accent similar to a crow her voice seemed softer and not as coarse the stranger introduced herself to Cocky and she told him that her name was Jacky and that she was from Ireland and that she like him was blown out to sea and this was how she came to Wales,
Jacky could not join any group as she was an outsider and the other jackdaws let her know it so Cocky and Jacky had a lot in common they both were in a foreign Country though Cocky was many miles further from home and they both had no friends and they both felt very lonely as the days went by they became firm friends and Cocky and Jacky had no more need to feel lonely as they had each other.

Sunday, September 1, 2013

That anyone is entirely independent why even pretend
On others in some way we always depend
The billionaire boss depends on his employees out of them his billions he has made
And out of the work that they do on him they depend to be paid
Despite what the majority do have to say
We are all co-dependent in some sort of a way
And though credit is not always given to where it is due
That to live we all depend on each other happens to be true
Though most others with what i say may not agree
We are all co-dependent it does seem to me
And whether you live in an Earthly Utopia or an Earthly Hell
No man is an island or no woman as well
And though many may disagree with what i do say
We are all co-dependent in some sort of a way.

It takes a coward to be a bully and a bully is always a coward
And by instilling fear in the non aggressive the bully feels greatly empowered
But when the bully is stood up to he is not slow to sense defeat
To save himself from a deserved beating he is very quick to retreat.

In the World there are too many bullies they are to be found everywhere
And every day good and nice people are bullied in the bigger World out there
Bullies are mostly males but also some females and all bullies one thing in common do share
That of low self esteem they do suffer though of such they are not aware.

There are bullies in every schoolyard and in every workplace of them nothing good one can say
Some who are bullied do commit suicide such stories we read of and hear of every day
But when the bullies are stood up to they are very quick to back down
And it goes without saying that the bully is never the bravest one in the town.

There ought to be a law against adult bullying it is an obnoxious crime
Those who are found to be guilty of it ought to serve out prison time
As well as being cowardly bullies are cruel hearted they instill in their victims fear
A brave act of one known to be a bully is something you never do hear.

Home to wallaby and gray roo and weerloo and the pale eyed crow
Between the volcanic rocks of Kolor thistles, scutch grass and bracken grow
Down the stony face of Kolor red hot lava it did flow
To the amazement of the First Australians thousands of centuries ago
They must have thought the Mountain God was angry as they watched in fear and awe
And that their World was ending so frightened at what they saw
That this was an act of Nature something they were not to know
On the stony slopes of Kolor only bracken and thistles grow
High above the hill of Kolor two wedge tail eagles soar and fly
Scanning the ground for prey movement monarchs of the southern sky
For them to exist on Kolor smaller creatures have to die
This is just a fact of Nature and Nature's facts do never lie
On the stunted trees of Kolor on this April evening in mid Fall
The black pale eyed crows are cawing and the dark brown weerloos call.

Saturday, August 31, 2013

As a writer i am not seen as worthy of note
And i never refer to myself as a poet
Though all of the stuff through the years i did write
You can see on many an internet site
To pen rhymes to Nature i am often inspired
And of singing her praises I've never grown tired
For many years of her i have been in awe
Our marvelous Earth Mother lives by her own law
Her secrets from us she keeps hidden away
Though from her we do learn something new every day
Her beauty is unrivaled it does seem to me
And something that one need not pay for to see
Though my worth as a rhymer I always do doubt
In Nature no shortage of things for to write about.

To some it is mythology though many say it is God's will
Moses Fifth Commandment states 'Thou Shalt Not Kill'
Does this apply to humans only or life forms of all kind?
The true answer to such in books you will not find
Since us humans do kill other life forms to eat
And I'm one who enjoy the taste of fish and meat
Does this make an accomplice to murder out of me?
With what i say here many may not agree
'Thou Shalt Not kill' the Fifth Commandment does state
And though most say to humans this only relate
Yet since the Fifth Commandment humans only does not specify
To every life form it well may apply
If this be so all of us flesh eaters are destined for Hell
And the souls of the life forms we've eaten with God's Angels will dwell.